Reviewed by Chris Risdal, MoreHorror.com
In celebration of Chucky’s October return, I thought I'd sit back and rewatch the entire ‘Child’s Play’ series as a whole and review them here on MoreHorror. Of course, I always start from the beginning which happens to be the best in the series: ‘Child’s Play’.
I was born a year after ‘Child’s Play’ hit theaters, so I never experienced this film in theaters, so it’s hard to imagine how unique the film was at the time and for me the first film may not work on me as much as some others. That doesn't mean I don't like the film however, I just feel like it was even better when it was first released.
Now that I’ve stated the obvious, let’s get into the premise (as if people on here don’t know already…) ‘Child’s Play’ follows young Andy Barclay (Alex Vincent) as he receives a much sought after Good Guy Doll for his birthday. The doll, known as Chucky brings Andy much joy, until a string of brutal murders begin to surround Andy and Chucky and it’s up to a Detective (Chris Sarandon) and Andy’s mother (Catherine Hicks) to save Andy from a fate worse than death.
I have to say that, were it not for the supreme voice work of Oscar winner Brad Dourif as Chucky the film would’ve probably been easily forgotten and thrown to the side. While the other characters are not necessarily bad (Alex Vincent as a young Andy standing out well) but the film’s energy comes from Chucky’s performance. It’s the same scenario that happened with Robert Englund being replaced as Freddy, you just can’t see that role without him and the same goes for Chucky here.
Catherine Hicks (Star Trek IV) and Chris Sarandon (Fright Night) both do well here, though they could’ve been written better. Hicks tries her best to protect Andy, but other times she comes off as too ‘damsel in distress’ to me. Sarandon I think isn’t used enough and I really wanted to know more about his character (too bad the sequels didn’t have him).
‘Child’s Play’ still has some decent animatronic effects that hold up well, while some other effects work (real person in a chucky mask) not so much. The tension and thrills in the film are still pretty effective for the most part, though if you’re really familiar to this genre, it’s effectiveness will vary. As for gore, I wouldn't say ‘Child’s Play’ is the place to go for that kind of effects (unless you want to endure ‘Seed of Chucky’) but this film and the rest of the franchise work better with the old ‘less is more’ motif.
Overall, while the film has become a little silly, even by horror standards ‘Child’s Play’ can still be a great popcorn film, especially for anyone who’s a horror fan. For the genre viewer, I’d give ‘Child’s Play’ a high recommendation any day. Casual viewers, I would rent it first.